The November issue of The American Journal of Pathology published findings on a study that examined how bone marrow-derived cells (BDMCs), i.e. cells that are involved in the growth and spread of breast, lung, brain and stomach tumors, could be used in order to track their migration during the formation and expansion of tumors. The study was conducted in a mouse model developed by the researchers. The results of utilizing the mechanism by which bone marrow cells migrate to tumors and delaying their propagation are a strong indication that this process could be used to develop more effective cancer treatments.

Research leader Wafik S. El-Deiry, MD, PhD, Professor and Chief, Hematology/Oncology Division at the Penn State Hershey Medical Center who is also Associate Director for Translational Research at the Penn State Hershey Cancer Institute commented:

“Our results provide an excellent in vivo experimental model where the temporal dynamics of tumor-infiltrating BMDCs may be monitored in an immunocompetent host and novel therapies targeting BMDCs for the inhibition of tumor progression may be investigated. In the future, it may be possible to use specific identified tumor-infiltrating BMDCs to deliver therapeutic cargo.”

Researchers used the first group of mice expressing a fluorescence gene as bone marrow cell donors whilst the second group of mice, whose marrow had been destroyed by radiation, were injected with the donated fluorescent bone marrow.

After an 8-week proliferation period of the transplanted bone marrow cells, researchers injected colon cancer cells into the same mice that formed tumors over the next 3 weeks.

Using optical imaging, the researchers found that the tumors contained several types of BMDCs during their observations of the tumor growth. They also discovered that tumor growth in animals that received the bone marrow transplants is reduced compared with host mice that had no transplant.

The researchers point out that cancer has long been considered as a disease in which transformed cells grow and invade tissue, however, they suggest that it becomes increasingly more apparent that cancer is much more complex in a heterogeneous microenvironment with many cellular interactions occurring in the malignant tissue.

El-Deiry, who is also an American Cancer Society Research Professor explains:

“This type of mouse model allows scientists to actually see in living color the complicated relationships and interplay between the. . . . tumor’s own cells and the immune system cells within the host. . . .This ongoing war on cancer within this tumor microenvironment has surprising twists and turns.”

El-Deiry and his team anticipate to guide patient outcomes “with additional treatments that can help [them] overcome the cancer.”

Written by Petra Rattue